It’s easy to get caught up in the anticipation of a festival when so many exciting plans are being put into place. However, occasionally unexpected circumstances arise that make you take a look at the bigger picture.

In 2017, our annual festival will take place in Cedar Rapids, IA. This week, Cedar Rapids has been experiencing a river well above flood stage, and flooding could have affected our 2017 venues there. Fortunately, it looks like our important sites, and much of the city, are escaping damage because of a lot of work the city did to protect itself, including installing temporary flood control barriers.

When you are planning a large festival in a city, and something like this occurs, it really gives you a new perspective of what can and does happen outside of your control and the damage that could result. Our thoughts and well-wishes are with the people of Cedar Rapids.

On a much lighter note, the second installment of our collaborative video series ‘Mind Blown’ is now available. The theme of this video is club passing, and it features many diverse and amazing passers, including 2016 IJA Teams Champions Jonglissimo. Once you have prepared yourself for any possible cerebral combustion, hop on over and check it out.

Wishing you a safe Fall season, Nathan Wakefield IJA Chairman

IJA Honorary Awards nominations open

The IJA Awards Committee is seeking nominations for honorary IJA awards that are given out at the annual festival. See the awards descriptions and past winners at: www.juggle.org/history/honoraryawards.php.

Never too soon for you to promote the next IJA festival, by Don LewisEl Paso was only a few weeks ago, and it seems like a long time until the IJA meets again, in Cedar Rapids in 2017. Last month I suggested that opportunities to teach non jugglers occurred when you least expect them. Likewise, it is a great thing to encourage jugglers to attend our festival while you are still buoyed up with enthusiasm from the last festival. We all spend most of the year juggling with our local juggling enthusiasts, and most of them never go to the IJA festival. Well, we’ve got nearly a year to change their minds.

The excuses that good jugglers give for not going to IJA festivals are both extensive and creative. The one I run into most often is “I’m not good enough…, I’d be out of my league”. That certainly isn’t true, but they do believe it at some instinctive level. At one festival, a lady made a point of telling me how impressed she was that we have introductory workshops for a lot of props. “They really are for beginners, and the instructors are so patient” was her comment. The festival is a great place to try new props in a safe environment. Many if not most people are afraid of being mocked when trying something new. That just does not happen at festivals because we all remember how stupid we all look when picking up a new prop. If you’ve got the guts to learn, then somebody has the patience to teach. And not always in a workshop setting. The gym is constantly full of impromptu learning moments.

The next most frequent excuse is that the festival is too expensive. The actual cost of the festival is practically a joke compared to what you get. It really amazes me that people will pay thousands to go to specialized tennis, hockey, basketball, mountain climbing, kayaking, cooking, cycling, walking week vacations, with no shows and highly structured/limited workshops; and still say that a couple hundred dollars for a week of gym access, shows, and workshops is outrageously expensive. It isn’t. It is an extraordinarily good value.

Yes, the European festival is somewhat cheaper and attracts way more participants – not all of them jugglers. You can’t really compare the IJA with Europe. The circumstances are just not the same. To start with, many European towns have a tradition of large public festivals. The infrastructure already exists. Transportation is a very different environment in Europe. High population density and efficient public transit means large groups of people can assemble quite easily.

Camping is an accepted thing at public festivals in Europe. It isn’t in America. In fact, we have gone out of our way to offer camping at a few recent IJA festivals and there has not been much interest. The rallying cry used to be that it we offered camping, then thousands, or at least hundreds, would come. Nope, that does not happen. What we do have at most festivals is at least one hotel that will accept four persons per room at a cost that works out to about $25 per person per night. A dry bed and indoor plumbing seems to be what most people want.

The last excuse for not going to the festival is that some people are offended that they have to pay a membership fee to attend the festival. The argument goes that other festivals don’t require membership, which is certainly true. However, the IJA is much more than a festival. If the festival is worth attending, then it is also worth supporting the things that encourage excellence in juggling around the world, such as the championships, regional competitions, mentorships, online juggling articles, and training videos. Some will say “I’m not interested in any of that stuff”. I usually reply “Don’t you think that stuff should exist to encourage upcoming jugglers?” After all, club passing partners don’t suddenly appear out of nowhere. They need to get the bug and all the stuff we promote on the internet helps with that. We’re doing things that other jugglers are not doing, and a small show of support is a reasonable expectation. The IJA membership fee is very reasonable.

Encourage your friends, other jugglers, and yourself to attend the next festival. The more the merrier, and it is already a lot of fun.

eNewsletter content

This newsletter is sent out eleven times a year to IJA members. We use it to let you know about things that are happening at the IaJA in a timely manner.

It also regularly includes links to articles published in the IJA’s ezine eJuggle, a listing of upcoming juggling events/festivals and important information about the next IJA festival. While the newsletter is only sent to IJA members, you may forward it to other interested people, such as members of your local juggling club. We do not try to maintain a separate list of non-members who would like to receive the newsletter. Interested non-members may download a copy from the IJA website. We do not send the newsletter out widely and indiscriminately because we do not want to be thought of as spamming people.

If there is some juggling related activity that you would like other jugglers to know about, please submit an article. Articles received by the middle of the month generally are included in the issue that is sent out towards the end of the month.

IJA Regional Competitions – South America We are excited to announce the IJA Regional Competitions – South America 2016. In the next couple months, two IRCs will be taking place in South America.

IRC South America 2016 Bogota

This event will take place in Bogotá, the capital of Colombia, and is in partnership with Convencion Colombiana de Circo (Colombia’s national circus convention) and a popular pop culture event – SOFA (Salon de ocio y fantasia). The IRC will be a featured event during this 3-day convention which highlights dance competitions, skate boarding, anime, cos-play, and other urban arts. The competition will be held October 29. Check out our fun new webpage promoting this event, though be warned – it is all in Spanish: www.juggle.org/irc/sudamerica2016bogota

IRC South America 2016 Santiago

The IJA is excited to be partnering with Organic Juggling to host a second IRC in Santiago, Chile. Organic Juggling hosts monthly “Encuentros de Malabarismo”, or juggling meetings, which attract upwards of 1,000 juggle each month. The IRC will be in combination with the 32 Encuentro on November 5-6. It will be a 2-day event featuring workshops, shows, games, and of course, the IJA Regional Competition. Check out the informative webpage at: www.juggle.org/irc/sudamerica2016santiago

These IRCs have just been announced recently and have already garnered excellent response, with entry applications already coming in. We are excited to see how these events go. Stay tuned to the IJA Facebook and Instagram pages for updates on the finalists and for videos highlighting the competitions both during and after the events.

2013 Fest DVD 2-Pack available from the IJA Store

The 2013 IJA Festival DVD 2-Pack is available for purchase, from the IJA Store. The price is $30 for members ($40 for non-members). To get the member price, sign in at ym.juggle.org. Once you are signed in, go to:

We have DVDs for sale from the IJA fests in: 2011, 2012 and 2013. Each year includes two DVDs and roughly two hours of video.

Latest articles in eJuggle

Mind Blown Video Collaboration – Club Passing 2016“Mind Blown” is an IJA collaboration video series edited by Gino Crovetto of Perú, and coordinated by Jorge Vilchis, Erin Stephens and Lucas Adverse. The goal is to select a style of juggling and invite jugglers from around the world to contribute who excel at that style. This video highlights “Club Passing”.

Betty Gorham-Willer ObituaryBetty Gorham was born on July 26th 1931 and began juggling at age 13. By age 14, she was already juggling clubs and had been brought to the attention of jugglers through Roger Montandon’s Jugglers’ Bulletin. One of the first jugglers she saw perform was Massimiliano Truzzi. Truzzi’s performance showed Betty that a good act […]

Interview With Bri CrabtreeBri Crabtree is a popular performer at juggling festivals and has been developing as a professional juggler and variety artists for the last several years. David Cain interviewed her to learn a bit more about this up and coming juggling star. 1. Will you tell us a bit about yourself (background, current life) apart from […]

Toruk by Cirque du SoleilThe new touring Cirque du Soleil production Toruk-First Flight takes place in the world of Avatar, the 2009 3-d film directed by James Cameron who also attended the New York premiere. Is it amazing and is there any juggling in it? Yes and no. The movie put you in the planet Pandora by making you […]

The Peiro Brothers – Deadly Comedy JugglersThe Peiro Brothers (sometimes spelled Piero Brothers) were one of the top juggling teams of the 1940s, 50s, and 60s. Hailing from Buenos Aires, Argentina, Atilio (Teddy) and Hector Peiro were highly skilled at both juggling and comedy. They specialized in hat spinning, devil sticks, cigar boxes, club passing, rings, and a variety of other […]

TorinoThe following article is written by guest contributer Peter Brunning. Peter is a retired legal administrator who, although not a juggler, has a keen interest in the history of juggling. He has published biographical articles on Cinquevalli and Gintaro, and is working on a longer study of Gintaro currently. *********************************** Cinquevalli was the first juggling […]

The Tennis TrioSometimes, doing research on a juggler or jugglers from long ago is just a matter of filling in the gaps. Other times, it’s much more complicated, like putting together an oddly shaped jigsaw puzzle with no final version to guide you. Add in the obstacles of pseudonyms, stage names, and performance groups with ever changing members, […]

IJA Tricks of the Month August 2016 Guatemala by: Miguel HernandezMy name is Miguel Hernández and I’ve been juggling for 10 years. At first, it was just a hobby, but for the past 7 years, since I’ve been travelling, meeting jugglers, and studying circus, my technique changed and I’ve gotten carried away by the research and finding new ways to reinvent juggling. What I show in the video are some personal forms […]

Serge FlashSerge Flash was born Serge Fomitcheff in 1904 in Moscow, Russia. At the age of 8, Serge was adopted by the Andos Troupe, a group of Japanese jugglers and perch pole performers. The Andos Troupe Serge started working in the Andos Troupe as part of the perch pole act and then moved to the “Slide […]

A Message from The Chairman, August 2016I just flew back from El Paso, and boy are my arms tired (from all the juggling of course!). Seriously though, what an amazing festival it truly was. So many incredible performances, workshops, events, and memories. It was very gratifying to hear so many people remark about how great all the venues were, how close […]

IJA Tricks of the Month August 2016 MéxicoOne afternoon in June, a bunch of juggling homies hung out in the streets of Guadalajara, México. This was the result. Featuring: Jorge Vilchis, Fernanda Sumano, Erin Stephens, Froylan Iturbe, Tonatihu Rodriguez, La-Pao Aviles and Roch Olivas.

IJA Cascade of Stars, 2016The 2016 IJA Convention Public Show- “Cascade of Stars” was an international mixture of skill and comedy. Artists from Chile, Ukraine, Mexico, Sweden, Finland, Austria, and all across the US of A participated. The comedic hosts, The KamiKaze Fireflies kept the action rolling with their hilarious shtick between acts. Rob Williams, formerly of The Flaming Idiots […]

Gil Dova ObituaryOne of the most popular old school jugglers that modern performers have discovered in the past few years was Gil Dova. It is with great sadness that I have to report that Gil passed away on July 15th, 2016 from Parkinson’s disease. His rare mix of hilarious character, refined performance, first-rate comedy, and skillful juggling […]

IJA 2016 Fest ReviewThe International Jugglers’ Association lived up to its name at its 69th festival with only one of the six medal winners at the teams and individuals stage championships being from the United States. Japanese Hiroki Kamei of Nagoya, Japan got the individual gold with a spectacular diabolo performance of moves never before seen on an […]

Evgeni Biljauer VideosEvgeni Biljauer (born 1947) is one of the greatest Russian jugglers of all time. He was the first person to perform a five club five up pirouette and a five club three up front roll. He also performed up to 7 clubs and 10 rings in his act. Biljauer began his career in 1966 and […]

IJA Tricks of the Month August 2016 Chile by: Carlos ArgollasHello, they call me Carlitos Argollas, I dedicated myself to rings 7 years ago, and I offer workshops, build group compositions, and make tutorials. I currently live in Romeral, Chile, a pre-mountain village in the region of Maule. Here I found the very sad reality that there is neglect and mistreatment of animals, so I […]

Upcoming juggling festivals For a list of even more festivals, check the worldwide juggling event listings on our website at: www.juggle.org/events.

If you’re organizing a juggling festival (or if you simply know of a juggling fest) and you want to advertise it in the IJA eNewsletter, just drop a note to eNewsletter editor Don Lewis ijanews@juggle.org. Such listings are free.

The eNewsletter comes out near the end of each month. Your festival can be listed for a few months, and you don’t have to be an IJA affiliate to have a fest listed. Hey, jugglers want to know about juggling fests. Help them out and get more jugglers to your fest at the same time. Portland Juggling Festival 2016 30 Sep – 2 Oct 2016 Reed College, 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd, Portland, Oregonhttp://www.portlandjugglers.com/